Take one Nigella, add very little make-up: TV cook tones down the slap for appearance on cover of Vogue

Draped across a wooden chair in a plunging black dress which flatters her curvaceous frame, she is as striking as ever.

But yesterday, it was not Nigella Lawson’s figure in her stunning Antonio Berardi dress that is turning heads but her virtually make-up free face.

The popular TV chef will appear on the front of next month’s British Vogue wearing a dab of blusher, a coat of mascara on her lashes - and a ‘little retouching’ from the airbrush, magazine insiders have confessed.

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Touching on the future and determined
to set professional challenges for her herself, Miss Lawson said: ‘I
love what I do, but there are other parts of my brain that I haven’t
flexed in a professional way.

‘I
do sometimes think that I’ve let the more analytical part of my brain
slump slightly. I do like writing about food, but there’s so much that
interests me.

Appearance: She will appear on the front of next month's British Vogue wearing a dab of blusher and mascara

‘I’ve been working - in a cottage-industry way - on an app, which, if it works, could be deeply thrilling.’

The
52-year-old domestic goddess saw her world unravel last year after her
then husband multi-millionaire Charles Saatchi was pictured clutching
her throat in a London restaurant, causing the end of their marriage.

Months later she found herself in court
and forced to admit using cocaine and cannabis during a trial involving
two of her personal assistants, Italian-born sisters Elisabetta and
Francesca Grillo.

The pair were accused of spending £685,000 on credit cards given to them by Miss Lawson and Mr Saatchi, but were acquitted.

Court case: Miss Lawson's fresh-faced appearance is all the more remarkable given the months of public humiliation she has endured

Miss Lawson, the star of ratings-poor
Channel four show The Taste, said ‘talking up’ her looks has always left
her concerned she may be a ‘disappointment’ in real-life, admitting she
was ‘terrified’ to bare all.

Speaking during the exclusive shoot,
Miss Lawson said: ‘I was terrified of being photographed without
make-up, and I hate having my looks talked up.

‘It always makes me feel I’m going to be a disappointment in the flesh.’

Split: The 52-year-old domestic goddess (pictured, left, arriving at court) also saw her marriage end last year after her then-husband Charles Saatchi (above) was pictured clutching her throat in a London restaurant

The
star – who has been a long-time contributing editor for the magazine
having initially written a cookery column in 1995 – is said to discuss,
in April’s edition, life after the newspaper headlines following the
Grillo trial at the end of last year.

The ‘Nigella Bites’ star has two
children, daughter, Cosima and a son, Bruno from her marriage to late
husband John Diamond who died from throat cancer aged 47.

She later married wealthy art collector Charles Saatchi but the couple divorced in July 2013 after ten years of marriage, just weeks after pictures emerged of him with a hand around her throat at a London restaurant.

Cook star: Miss Lawson (pictured with chefs Ludo Lefebrvre and Anthony Bourdain) is the star of TV show The Taste